NASA weaponized old spy satellites to peer deeper into the universe than ever before

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — NASA's next flagship space observatory — is built around a 2.4-meter primary mirror transferred to NASA by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 2012. That mirror originated from declassified U.S. spy-satellite optics, part of hardware that had been developed under classified reconnaissance programs and later deemed surplus to intelligence needs.